~Geetartha Pathak
Wikipedia has defined the word Presstitute as "journalist or media agency who gives biased and predetermined views in favour of the government and corporations, thus neglecting their fundamental duty of reporting news impartially. It is a portmanteau of press and prostitute" Some say that the term presstitute is originally coined by Gerald Celente, an American trend forecaster, publisher of the Trends Journal and a business consultant. However former US President Harry S Truman referred to those journalists who covered White House with biased, as "prostitute of mind" in a letter written in December, 1955 to the then U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson.
In India the term was reportedly first used by Union Minister of State general V K Singh in April 2015 after several reports appeared in the media unfavourable to him. However the word has been used here by the government and some powerful men against those journalists who write critical reports against the government and their corporate sponsors. A Facebook page "Prestitute" is created to censure those media and media persons who raise critical voices against the government and other Hindu nationalist outfits. RSF in its World Freedom of Press Index report published on 25 April has mentioned hate speeches as an issue in India.
"Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible, most of it coming from the Prime Minister's troll army," observed the RSF report. A fake quote from a parody account ascribed to renowned journalist and author of 'gujarat Files- anatomy of cover up' Rana Ayyub went viral on social media.
"Minor child rapists are also human, do they have no human rights. This Hindutva government is bringing ordinance for death to child rapists just to hang muslims in larger numbers. Muslims aren't safe in India anymore". This quote has been ascribed to Rana Ayyub. A tweet with this quote was posted by an account @repubIicTv. The account user later deleted the tweet and has now deleted the account itself. Her face was morphed in videos and content calling for her to be gang-raped "if she didn't stop talking against Hindus and [Narendra] Modi," was widely circulated. Even her address and phone number were made public making her vulnerable to virtual and physical attacks.
Swathi Vadlamudi, a journalist and cartoonist received online threats over a cartoon that depicted a conversation between Hindu god Ram and his wife, Sita, to criticize right-wing support for the rape accused. In the cartoon, Sita tells Ram she is "glad" she was kid napped by demon king Ravan and not her husband's followers. After the cartoon was published, she has received numerous threats online, with many calling for her arrest. Some of them even threatened to kill her.
Media bashing therefore has become a routine exercise of the authoritarian regimes across the word. US President Donald Trump who was assumed to be manufacturer of fake news during his electoral campaign in 2016 US Presidential elections is now widely using the term alleging that the reports of the US mainstream media criticizing him are fake news. "When foreign leaders see the U.S. President denounce the media on a regular basis, it gives them free rein to do the same," the RSF spokesperson said.
Trump has declared the press an "enemy of the American people" in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, attempted to block White House access to multiple media outlets. He has even called for revoking certain media outlets' broadcasting licenses. The violent anti-press rhetoric from the highest level of the US government has been coupled with an increase in the number of press freedom violations at the local level as journalists run the risk of arrest for covering protests or simply attempting to ask public officials questions. It is unfortunate that like India, the country of first amendment now dropped two places to rank 45.
Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro frequently refers to 'the 'media war' being waged by national and international media outlets to discredit his administration. Arbitrary arrests and violence against journalists by police and intelligence services reached a record last year. Venezuela ranks 143 in the Freedom of Press Index. Egypt and Turkey are now two of the biggest prisons for journalists. Some of them are in jail for years without trial. Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who has become President for the second term through a controversial election enacted draconian laws curtailing freedom of media. It banned media coverage of any military operation. Another piece of law adopted in 2015 obliged journalists to report only the official version of the terrorist attacks.
Coverage of economic issues including inflation and corruption can also result in imprisonment in Egypt. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan banned many media outlet after an abortive coup in 2016. The witch hunt waged by Erdogan against his media critics after the coup has become a routine affair. Many journalists are behind the bars for years and many of them are spending life terms.
President Rodrigo Duterte, the President of Philippines has regularly justified the killing of journalists. In 2016, he famously said, "Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch." The country has dropped six places to no. 133. Interestingly the countries ranking high in press freedom index are home of more non-believers, atheists and agnostics.
Norway occupying the highest place in freedom of press ranking is home of 62 percent non believers, Sweden placed at two has highest number of atheists and agnostics in the world. Similarly Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland ranked 3, 4 and 5 respectively in press freedom index are among the fifty countries with highest proportion of atheist, agnostics and non-believers. On the other hand there are some countries with high number of nonbelievers rank very poorly in press freedom index.
Vietnam is a country with second highest number of non-believers ranks 15 in press freedom index. It ranks 140 out of 175 countries in the Democracy Index compiled by UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Netherlands which rank high in press freedom index also rank high in democracy index. Norway, number one in press freedom index occupies the top place in democracy index also. Norway is forth highest country of non-believers.
Therefore press freedom is not only linked to state of democracy, it also has correlation with the religious ecology of a given country. Rise of communal passions, intolerance, bigotry and racism in India and US may well explain their two places lowering in Press Freedom Index.
